Ortha's fighting style was a whirlwind of black limbs and septic jaws, her armour plated skin clanking and scraping against rough stone and the bones of the animated skeleton as she more crushed it than found genuine purchase with either of her deadly maws. All four of her eyes were filled with a mad sort of glee in the fight, though she was slightly put out that Echo achieved the killing blow before she did. The odd pair of animal side-kicks had been through a lot together.

Even when the skeleton went limp, its eerie artificial life gone, the Balauradon dragged it away, savagaging it back and forth with wet snarls, both head working together to break it apart until grisly flecks of bone and dry marrow littered the ground around her. And inside her head, shared only with Kona and Rilana, was a litany of gruesome cheerful cursing that must have been genetic because Rilana [i]never [/i]talked like [i]that![/i]

Staring balefully out of his freshly-injured face, Kona leaned down and dispatched the crawling torso with an almost clinical precision, his beak clacking neatly to sever joint and tendon. He left the aged greenish skull to snap uselessly at him as the catbird stepped neatly over it, his elegant furred tail twitching as he left a steaming pile of scat all over it. Seeking out Rilana, he growled hatefully at the red glow in Moira's eyes, worried and angry about his Druid's old friend. He began to creep around the other side of the shard, slinking low, his spotted plumage doing him no favours here.

The sensation of power behind her felt oppressive, like a terrible bonfire radiating against her back, but Rilana didn't tear her eyes away from Svarak's. The feeling of dread struck through her like a chord, leaving the Moon Fey certain that death would strike at any moment. She was woefully unprepared for all of this, and unsuited to be here, but she had known the terrible burden her Lord Knight had carried even before she'd chosen to give him her heart, and so she'd see this through to the end.

But he wasn't slipping away from her. His feline eyes sharpened, the wild fervor replaced by shrewd anger and determination. He was back, and Rilana only had time to smile sadly as his nose rubbed against hers before he was shoving her around, putting himself between her and Moira. The clatter of bones was growing nearer, but then something white and glossy fell, pulled to her lips by a quick breath before fluttering down. Knowing who it belonged to, Rilana looked up, seeing the raven in a different form entirely.

Moira's voice, so hateful and cruel, seemed to echo around the cavern. But the impact she expected never came, negated by whatever power Ayakari commanded.

Kona snorted. [i][color=fff200]Of course.[/color][/i]

The Moon Fey just shook her head. [color=00aeef]"I should have known."[/color] As soon as Svarak danced away from her, Rilana rushed towards Kona, bending low to neatly scoop the last remaining feather from the ground. The Null Stone had acted like an effigy this time, and Rilana was more certain now than she'd ever been that the sassy, back-talking raven would never be one of her Familiars, but she also doubted that the feather had been left on accident.

Together, she and Kona backed away from the Null Stone, and Rilana gave a short, woeful gasp as Svarak knocked Moira out cold. She'd have to remind herself later to thank him for showing some restraint. Braced against Kona, Rilana gave him a nod when the Charr briefly looked back, her hand clutched in the gryphon's black and white feathers. How strange was it that she had never known Juloya in the chillborn human's life, had only spoken to her through strange visions and ancient magic, but now felt a great swell of sorrow at what must be done? Like losing a friend? The moon fey struggled against the injustice of losing someone so selfless, desperately trying to see some other way, and realized that Svarak had likely spent the last three hundred years trying to imagine another away.

[i][color=fff200]You'll always carry a piece of her,[/color][/i] Kona muttered. [i][color=fff200]The best thing you can do for her is not forget what she did for all of us.[/color][/i]

The sound of the stone being pierced by a sliver of itself was indescribable. Rilana and Kona both winced against the brightness. Even Ortha turned to look, chunks of bone dangling from her lips as she squinted briefly at the brilliant light. Rilana held her breath, the invigorating power pouring through her so that she felt she might explode. 

For the Druid, it was as though she could suddenly, for a few brief moments, sense every living thing nearby in excrutiating detail. Everything from the tiny insects huddled in their crevices of rock to the strange purple moss to the furry bats clinging to the roofs of tunnels far above. Heartbeats thundered in her ears and she was tempted to reach out and claim them, even the people, to Bind them to her on and all. It was then that Rilana had a taste of how truly powerful a Druid could become.

But then it was gone, though the world would never be the same, and Rilana's eyes were full of the sight of Svarak slumping down to the ground. [color=a36209]"It's done,"[/color] he was muttering, looking exhausted but very much alive.

[color=00aeef]"Kona, what happened to your face?"[/color] She asked, holding his beak and tilting the gryphon's face until he squawked angrily and shook her off. [color=00aeef]"That will need to be looked at."[/color] It would heal if she Marked him, but everything was still so uncertain.

She left Ortha to snuffle around, poking her heads in dark corners. There were others to be tended to. Alya and Echo seemed positively horrified to her, and though a homunculus was difficult to read Rilana thought he looked exhausted. She continued to avoid Drisceya, simply taking note that the drow was now missing an arm. And the rest were dead.

[i][color=00aeef]Look for a way out of here. Perhaps the rest of the Council is here. And my family.[/color][/i]

Moving over towards Svarak, Rilana knelt down to check Moira, rolling the older fey over and checking her for injuries other than the bump on her head. Together, she and Kona managed to maneuver the limp woman onto the gryphon's back.

[color=00aeef]"I don't want to stay here any longer than necessary, Svarak. We need to get back to Frigmount to see if Celevar's influence is still causing madness there."[/color] She put her hand on his shoulder and eyed the Null Shard, the sword still sticking out of what was now a crystalline sarcophagus. She was worried for her people. But for a moment she gazed down at Svarak with a pointed look. After all of this, they deserved some time. 
 
[color=fff200][i]Ugh.[/i][/color]